Political parties challenged to include national cancer plan in general election manifesto

The Daily Express and radiotherapy campaigners have laid down the gauntlet to all major political parties to commit to a dedicated national plan to end the country’s cancer crisis.

We are demanding they include a pledge for a dedicated National Cancer Plan in their general election manifesto.

Only then can real progress be made in driving down the cancer backlog.

Leading oncologist Professor Pat Price said the calls for action on cancer are “becoming deafening”.

She said the King and Princess of Wales “remarkable openness and courage” in facing their cancer diagnoses has helped shine a spotlight on cancer care, inspiring countless people to get checked.

The clarion call comes as new figures show the NHS missed two out of three national cancer targets.

A target for at least 75% of patients to receive a diagnosis or all-clear within four weeks of a referral was met, with a figure of 77% in March.

But this still meant more than 58,000 people waited longer than four weeks.

Meanwhile, 91% of patients had their first treatment within 31 days of a decision to treat, against a target of 96%.

And just 69% were treated within 62 days of an urgent referral, against a target of 85%.

NHS cancer services have struggled to keep up with rising demand while trying to clear a backlog of Covid delays.

However, March saw the health service deliver more than a quarter of a million urgent cancer appointments - the highest on record and more than 12,500 per day.

Cancer treatment activity was also at its highest ever level with over 1,400 patients starting treatment every day, NHS England said.

Writing in this newspaper, prof Price, chairwoman of the charity Radiotherapy UK, makes two demands - that political parties commit to a National Cancer Plan and to more investment, particularly in the radiotherapy sector.

“This really matters, lives are at risk,” she says.

“What is so heart-breaking and so frustrating is that it doesn’t have to be this way. The Government and NHS can get a grip on cancer.”

The Daily Express has contacted all major parties likely to stand candidates at the general election, which is widely expected to be in the autumn.

The Conservative Party wouldn’t be drawn on future manifesto pledges but Downing Street said the NHS would have met Rishi Sunak’s pledge to cut waiting lists if there had been no strikes.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “The PM pays tribute to NHS staff who are working tirelessly to cut the waiting lists down.

“In today’s data we have seen the biggest six-month reduction in the waiting list in over 10 years outside of the pandemic and that is a significant achievement in the context of the pressures, obviously the industrial action we’ve seen.”

Lib Dem Health and Social Care Spokesperson Daisy Cooper said: "We know that one in two people will develop some form of cancer during their lifetime, so it’s vital that the next government gets serious about tackling cancer.

“Liberal Democrats have already set out an ambitious five year cancer support plan, including a guarantee that every single patient starts treatment within 2 months following an urgent referral, massively boosting cancer survival rates.

“That’s why every vote for the Lib Dems is a vote for action on cancer.”

Reform UK leader Richard Tice said: “The UK cancer crisis is due to gross negligent mismanagement at many levels. We have amongst the worst outcomes in the Western world.

Cancer care, like the whole of healthcare in the UK, needs Reform.

Only Reform UK has a plan to get to zero waiting lists in 2 years and cancer care waits must be limited to days not months.”

Labour, the Lib Dems and the Green Party have also been contacted about the manifesto commitment.

For more than a year now we have been campaigning for a boost in radiotherapy funding.

The treatment is needed in four out of 10 cancer cures and to help half of all patients with the disease.

Estimates suggest cancer cases will rise from 375,000 cases per year now to more than half-a-million in 2040 if trends continue. Deaths are set to increase by almost a quarter.

Yet the Government has scrapped its 10-year cancer plan - a strategy to invest in services - announced two years ago by then-Health Secretary Sajid Javid.

Radiotherapy services are already stretched despite a typical cure using it costing as little as £3,000. Some chemotherapy drugs can cost up to £100,000 per year per patient.

Radiotherapy delivered by a relatively small team of specialists - less than 6,500 - has been transformed in the past decade.

But the UK does not have enough machines and the ones we have are getting old. Many cannot deliver modern treatment.

France has 8.5 machines per million population but England has only 4.8 machines per million.

And there are radiotherapy "desert areas" where patients have to take long journeys to reach a centre with a machine.

Currently, 3.5 million people live outside the recommended travel time of 45 minutes. New machines - which cost around £2.4million - can treat more patients more quickly.

Over the next five years we will need 200 new machines to catch up and keep up. Experts say it is money well spent, reducing the bill for each patient's treatment to just £400.

Our campaign has three demands: A rolling programme of new radiotherapy machines to replace old ones to handle rising cancer rates; New satellite radiotherapy centres in areas without treatment facilities to slash journey times; A boost to the radiotherapy workforce to break the cancer backlog and help get the UK to the top of the survival league tables.

To do this, the service will need a £1billion boost over five years. Our crusade is backed by Radiotherapy UK and the #CatchUpWithCancer campaign.

Manchester United and England legend Bryan Robson, 66, who survived cancer after lifesaving radiotherapy in Thailand, is also supporting us.

Between 2016 and 2022 at least £162million was invested in new equipment, including the replacement or upgrade of more than 100 radiotherapy treatment machines.

According to the Department for Health the cancer workforce rose by 4,300 additional staff between 2016 and 2021.